Stuttgart. Last year’s winners narrowly missed out on the podium at
the 79th running of the long distance classic. After 24 hours, the
Felbermayr-Proton team with Porsche works drivers Marc Lieb
(Germany), Richard Lietz (Austria) and Wolf Henzler (Germany)
received the flag as fourth in the GTE Pro sports car class. The
French IMSA Performance Matmut squad clinched fifth place ahead of
Flying Lizard Motorsports from the USA. The 911 of the Belgian
ProSpeed Competition team crossed the finish line at the Le Mans 24
Hours in eighth. In the GTE Am class, where only one professional
race driver is permitted per vehicle and only last year’s vehicles
are eligible to race, the French Larbre Competition team celebrated
second place with the 911 GT3 RSR.

Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport: “All of our teams took
off into the race well prepared. Under the most difficult
circumstances, the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR proved to be enormously
durable and reliable. Unfortunately our teams had to cope with two
accidents. You could clearly see the performance differences that
are a direct result of the current Balance of Performance ratings.
Unfortunately the fastest 911 GT3 RSR were affected by the
phenomenon that they couldn’t turn the number of laps per set of
tyres that were calculated which meant some extra pit stops for tyre
changes. Under these conditions we can be satisfied with the results
– especially in the GTE Am class where our team claimed a spot on
the podium. I congratulate all the teams, drivers and partners who
have contributed to this good result.”

Like in 2010, the best-placed Porsche crew put in a brilliant drive
with high reliability in all areas. Drivers Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz
and Wolf Henzler drove an immaculate race that was punctuated by
many accidents and safety car phases. Only in the early stages of
the race, the team lost more than one lap, first at the red light on
the exit of the pitlane, then due to tyre damage which also required
repairs to the car body. Other than that, the blue 911 GT3 RSR only
came into the pits for tyre changes and refuelling. Under the
leadership of team boss Christian Ried, the pit crew of the
Felbermayr-Proton team again shone with very fast pit stops.

Porsche works driver Patrick Pilet (France) also lost time in the
jam at the red light of the pitlane exit. Shortly before midnight,
Pilet and his driver colleagues, team owner Raymond Narac and his
French compatriot Nicolas Armindo were ranking eighth in the GTE Pro
class. With consistent lap times and a perfectly-running 911, the
trio with the two seasoned Le Mans campaigners Pilet and Narac and
the 24 hour rookie Armindo fought their way up to fifth place.

The pilots of Flying Lizard Motorsports can look back on a lively
marathon. In the opening phase of the race, the set-up was not
perfect, and they also had to contend with tyre damage. For a while,
works drivers Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) as
well as Lucas Luhr (Germany) held a promising fourth place, only to
fall back to eighth with technical problems. After a difficult race,
the trio were satisfied to finally bring home sixth place.

Fight to the finish – that was also the motto of the Belgian squad.
Works driver Marco Holzer (Germany), Belgium’s Marc Goossens and
Jaap van Lagen from the Netherlands had all but worked their way
nearly into the lead after the first third of the race but finally
finished in eighth place after losing time with two minor repair
stops. The untiring mechanics of ProSpeed Competition received a
very special honour: They won the “Prix ESCRA”, an award that has
been endowed for the 36th time to the best pit crew of the entire
race.

In the GTE Am category, Larbre Competition were thrilled with second
place in a 2010-spec 911 manned by the all-French line up of
Christophe Bourret, Pascal Gibon und Jean-Philippe Belloc. Two 911
GT3 RSR retired after accidents that were not their fault. One of
those affected was the sister car of Felbermayr-Proton. Suffering
tyre damage Abdulaziz Al Faisal (Saudi Arabia) flew from the track
in the fast Indianapolis corner. Luckily, Al Faisal climbed out
uninjured, but the Pro-911, which he shared with Nick Tandy (Great
Britain) and Bryce Miller (USA), was so badly damaged that the team
was unable to repair it. Contesting the GTE Am class, Horst
Felbermayr Senior (Team Proton Competition) fell victim to an
opponent at 8.00 a.m. when his 911 GT3 RSR was hit hard on the
driver’s side. The Austrian was transported to hospital for a
medical examination.

This is the Le Mans
24 Hours
With grid line-up of 55 vehicles, the 24 Hours of Le Mans consists
of two different sports car categories: sports prototypes and
modified standard sports cars. The technical regulations of the
European Le Mans Series (LMS) and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS)
correspond to those of the 24 hour race. All race cars start
together in Le Mans; there is an overall classification and a
classification for individual classes.

The four classes in Le Mans:
GTE Pro class: The most popular class of car manufacturers (formerly
run as the GT2 class) is traditionally the best supported: Modified
sports cars with up to 500 hp and a minimum weight of 1,245
kilograms.
GTE Am class: Like the GTE-Pro, but with the 2010-vehicle
specifications. Moreover, the regulations stipulate that each
vehicle must have one professional driver at the most.
LMP1 class: Sports prototypes with up to 550 hp and a 900 kilogram
minimum weight.
LMP2 class: Sports prototypes of around 440 hp, GT-class homologated
engines and a 900 kg minimum weight.